Burnham criticised Britain’s interior minister, the Home Secretary Amber Rudd for failing to rule out the idea of a European waiver system. The EU and the commissioners may be considering issues, alternatives. “But I am convinced that at the end of the day our common strategy goal [is] to establish the best possible relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union”, Tusk told May. She replied: “I think they would be surprised. I don’t think it’s particularly desirable, but we don’t rule it out because we have to be allowed a free hand to get the best negotiation”.
Advertisement
On Saturday, it was revealed that France and Germany have backed a system based on the USA visa waiver scheme.
European Union leaders have pressed Britain to initiate formal exit talks as soon as possible after voters chose to split from the bloc in a referendum in June, although the government plans to take until at least the end of the year to form a negotiating stance.
This would apply to travelers from outside the European Union, although it remains unclear whether it would be just for the passport-free Schengen area or the European Union as a whole.
Britons could face the prospect of having to apply in advance and pay a fee to travel across the channel, the United Kingdom government has admitted. If the United Kingdom government manages to negotiate a Brexit deal similar to Norway’s or Switzerland’s with regard to free movement, there is a chance British citizens wouldn’t be subjected to the Etias system, reported The Guardian.
Latest figures from Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) show more than 30 million trips a year are made to the European mainland by Britons, including 13 million to the most popular destination country, Spain and nearly 9 million to France.
The EU plan is part of series of measures planned in the wake of the Paris attacks in January and November last year and the Brussels bombings in March this year, that expose serious shortcomings in the EU’s internal and external border security systems.
Asked about the Conservatives’ long-standing target to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands – latest figures had it at 327,000 – she said the government was “completely committed” to reducing immigration, and “yes tens of thousands, although it will take some time”.
Advertisement
Schelling told reporters on the sidelines of a European finance minister meeting in Bratislava that he was lobbying for a special meeting of European finance and economy ministers – or Ecofin – on Brexit without his British counterpart.
